Chael Sonnen believes Diego Sanchez did the right thing by taking the DQ win at UFC Rio Rancho over Michel Pereira.
Late in the third round, Pereira landed an illegal knee and Sanchez said he couldn’t continue so he was awarded a DQ win. It was also in a fight he was losing the entire time.
For Sonnen, he says Sanchez made the right decision by taking the win as he was hurt and it is something the rules state he could do.
“We are in a combat sport that has very, very limited rules,” Sonnen said on ESPN (via BJPENN.com). “The rules that are limited including kneeing a downed opponent in the head, is invoked by a point taken away, by an illegal tactic, by the option to stop the match in its entirety as we saw right here [Sanchez vs Pereira].
“They’re in a place because this is such a vicious and nasty thing to do to somebody. There’s not very many rules that we do have. Look, if Diego was hurt — and he was hurt — for him to use that mechanism that is built-in, is a very smart thing to do.”
Sanchez has been criticized by many for taking the DQ win, including Pereira who says the UFC veteran is a chicken and the knee never landed. Regardless, it is a win for Sanchez.
